ARTICLE TOOLS

E-mail story

Printer friendly version

iPod friendly version

Share This

Text Size: A A A A

Area companies well positioned for environmental windfall

By: Clint Cooper
(Contact)

Included in this article

Ben Fischer

Since the terms “alternative energy” and “green power” automatically raise interest levels in a day of soaring oil prices, three Chattanooga companies that specialize in different aspects of the wind power industry are poised for continued growth.

“Energy prices have increased over the past decade,” said Ben Fischer, president of Signal Wind, a full service general contractor providing design/build and plant construction services to the industry, “and that has helped the economics of wind projects.

“We see some strong growth in the next five to 10 years in this market,” he said. “We’re well positioned to take advantage of the biggest contracts because of our experience and financial resources.”

Staff Photo by Gillian Bolsover -- Danny Layne, John Shrum and Randy Gholston, from left, guide into place a section of a wind turbine tower at Aerisyn.

Locally, Tennessee Valley Infrastructure Group (TVIG) designs and builds wind farms like Signal Wind, and Aerisyn LLC manufactures the towers that serve as perches for multi-ton turbines and rotors.

“The price of enerntinues to climb, so (the industry) is not going away,” said Richard Ector, president of TVIG.

Mr. Fischer said the 3-year-old Signal Wind has added 20 people in the past six months and anticipates bringing on more in 2009.

Its current projects are located from Texas to Canada and from the Northeast to the Northwest, he said.

Mr. Ector said 10-year-old TVIG has tripled its size in the last three months, in particular for a job at the Panther Creek Wind Farm in Big Spring, Texas.

“It’s four times bigger than anything we’ve ever done,” he said.

TVIG’s other projects, according to information on its Web site, are in Nebraska, South Dakota, Idaho, New York and Anderson County, Tenn., where it is involved in the Buffalo Mountain Wind Project.

“Of course we’re focused on places where the wind blows most,” Mr. Ector said, “and that’s not the Southeast.”

Mike Hohl, chief executive officer of 5-year-old Aerisyn LLC, said in 2007 that his company had added 60 people in the last year for a total of 160 employees.

“We feel this area will continue to provide a nice opportunity for growth,” he said.

Mr. Fischer said it’s important to the wind industry for Congress to pass a new extension to the Production Tax Credit for Renewable Energy, which provides a 1.9-cent per-kilowatt-hour benefit for the first 10 years of a renewable energy facility’s operation.

Advertisement:

Trade USA
www.tradeusascooters.com

Click to enlarge photo

Advertisement:

Kelsan

Click to enlarge photo

The tax credit was set to expire Dec. 31, 2007, but because of the efforts of a coalition of clean energy supporters it was extended for one year as part of the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006.

“It’s the mechanism that provides owners of wind power projects the ability to offset some of the large capital costs,” Mr. Fischer said.

He said the extension, with the help of U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tennessee, passed the Senate 88-8 but had to be reconciled with the House bill.

“It has full bipartisan support,” he said.

Mr. Ector said a weakening or cancellation of the tax credit would be devastating.

“It looks good for the industry as a whole,” he said, “but (not passing it) could make a difference.”